... Since we were hijacking the "odd things" thread with talk about Maseratis and Teslas! Several of us seem to be interested in car spotting, but we've been twisting the definition of "odd" and this might deserve its own thread.

I saw a couple of interesting cars on my walk yesterday, apart from walking past a Lamborghini / Ferrari dealership in Penn that I'd not known was there. (I'm not sure that cars in a dealership window count...) Both were in Maidenhead, along the road by the river.

One was one of the TVR Wedges, which used to be more common but which I've not seen for a while. I don't know which model it was exactly, but it was one of the earlier ones before they started to round the corners, and it was pale blue with a small wing on the back.

And I saw a Chevrolet pickup truck from the 1950s, which would be unusual in the UK anyway, but this one had been very nicely restored to show standard and was shiny and new-looking. Again, I'm not sure which model it was but it could have been one of the 1950s versions of the Chevrolet Task Force - the photo captioned "1957 GMC Suburban Carrier" is a reasonable match.

Maybe this thread is redundant and we'll get bored with it, but between posts about this in the current "odd things" and "unhijackable" it seems there should be enough posts to fill it... Of course, genuinely odd cars can still go in odd things...

... Since we were hijacking the "odd things" thread with talk about Maseratis and Teslas! Several of us seem to be interested in car spotting, but we've been twisting the definition of "odd" and this might deserve its own thread.

"Odd" (as far as cars go) is sort of subjective. A car may not be unusual by production numbers, or could be part of a production line that has long ceased, but if it shows up in an area where it isn't common, calling it "odd" isn't a stretch. Tesla, for all it's publicity of late (not to mention their sticker price) is still likely to have only a handful of dealerships in larger markets.

Almost every weekend in the summer, I have a really good chance of seeing Ford Model T's or other cars from the late 1920's to the early 1930's. That's because there is an active car club in Denver whose members collect them... to the point where I almost don't even give them a second look, and I've seen more of them than any model of Tesla.

There was also a club in Colorado for owners of mogs, but I don't know if they are still active or not. (There's no way I'll ever not notice a mog, no matter how many times I've seen them.)

~Psihala
(*Used to car-pool with someone who imported a right-side drive Suzuki Samurai... and took the brunt of other driver's reactions if they thought he did something boneheaded.)

I wish I knew car models better because I saw two interesting cars today. This morning was a 1960s CitroŽn 2CV (yellow), and in the evening something that had the backend of a 1950 Chevy Fleetline (red).

I saw this one Friday but forgot to mention it: On my way home from work I saw someone driving a vintage 1960s Porsche a few cars ahead of me at a traffic light.

I don't know if this counts as interesting or not, but my neighbor is selling a late 1970s Ford Ranchero. I saw it today because I see it every day.

ETA: They say that if you drive around California long enough you'll eventually see one of every car ever made. Partly because they never rust here, but also California is often the place where imported car brands are first introduced in the US before they expand sales to the entire nation. So California is probably the only place you'd find a 1960s Toyota or Datsun, because they were only sold on the west coast in those days I believe.

There was a nice old CitroŽn DS 23 parked outside my corner shop just now. It looked like it might have needed a bit of a polish, but it clearly still worked so somebody must have been looking after it anyway. I prefer the DS to the 2CV. This is a good example of a car that isn't really unusual enough to put in the other thread but I still like seeing because there aren't many around any more! I assume the owner of this one must live nearby but I don't remember seeing it before.

My aunt used to have a 2CV and my cousin loved it in the days when he was driving her car - he might even have been given it / bought it as his own first car eventually. Theirs was blue, as far as I remember.

I saw an old, 1960s style Citroen (I have no idea of the model) last week. Today I saw the yellow Gran Torino I often see (because it's parked outside a house I walk my dog past) as well as one of the original Chargers (from the images I looked up, it's circa 1968) in a parking lot here at work.

The very first foreign car I saw and noticed was a Citroen, in about 1966. A school friend's parents had one. At the age of 6, I was extremely impressed by the velour seats.

This morning I saw an old 1960s station wagon of some sort, but I couldn't identify the make or model. Cosmetically, at least, it looked old and worn out. I'm guessing either it's someone's half finished project car, or the owner just likes the patina.

ETA: A Rambler Classic, maybe? That doesn't seem quite, though; all of those have four headlights and I'm pretty sure the car I saw had just two. It did seem like a more modest sized wagon for the era, though; not one of the huge barges some American makes were building back then.

Yesterday I saw a three wheeled car parked near my parent's place that reminded me of the car that Mr Bean was always knocking over. I've no idea what they're called and I've never seen one in 'real life' before. I'm not even sure that they're allowed on the roads here although I guess they must be unless this car was meant to be a weird curb adjacent lawn ornament.

Yesterday I saw a three wheeled car parked near my parent's place that reminded me of the car that Mr Bean was always knocking over. I've no idea what they're called and I've never seen one in 'real life' before. I'm not even sure that they're allowed on the roads here although I guess they must be unless this car was meant to be a weird curb adjacent lawn ornament.

A motorcycle dealership near me sells Polaris Slingshots and Vanderhalls. Kind of the opposite, with the single wheel in back. Legally they are motorcycles in New York.

Yesterday I saw a three wheeled car parked near my parent's place that reminded me of the car that Mr Bean was always knocking over. I've no idea what they're called and I've never seen one in 'real life' before. I'm not even sure that they're allowed on the roads here although I guess they must be unless this car was meant to be a weird curb adjacent lawn ornament.

That would be a Reliant Robin. Apparently three wheelers like that were common in the UK (are they still?), as they exploited a loophole in UK law that technically classified them as motorcycles.

ETA:

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

This morning I saw an old 1960s station wagon of some sort, but I couldn't identify the make or model. Cosmetically, at least, it looked old and worn out. I'm guessing either it's someone's half finished project car, or the owner just likes the patina.

ETA: A Rambler Classic, maybe? That doesn't seem quite, though; all of those have four headlights and I'm pretty sure the car I saw had just two. It did seem like a more modest sized wagon for the era, though; not one of the huge barges some American makes were building back then.

I'm thinking maybe it was a Dodge Dart wagon now. That's about the same size and style as what I saw, and has two headlights like I remember. I think it was more like the 1966 version, but Wikipedia didn't have a picture of one of those as a wagon.

Now that I know this thread is here, I find myself looking for interesting cars. However, the most interesting vehicles in a make your heart beat faster way I've seen yesterday and today were emergency vehicles trying to get past me.

That would be a Reliant Robin. Apparently three wheelers like that were common in the UK (are they still?), as they exploited a loophole in UK law that technically classified them as motorcycles.

Not all that common any more, but they have a cult following - especially the Reliant Regal van version that was used in Only Fools and Horses. Funnily enough I saw one (I think it was a Regal) parked in a driveway on the walk the other day, too. (eta) Apparently the Regal is an earlier model, which may or may not be a van, and not the van variant of the Robin as I'd previously thought.

They're probably becoming quite collectable, as something that was considered cheap and rubbish at the time and so wouldn't have been looked after, but suddenly became popular later. I can't remember where the driveway where I saw the one on Saturday was, but it was a big detached house, and if you can afford a house like that round here, you're not badly off. The car looked a bit battered and might have been a restoration project.

Last year I saw one of the Morgan three wheelers - quite an old one, too - parked outside the chapel at Church Norton near my parents. Those are another sort with two wheels at the front and one at the back, and they're pretty odd-looking; I can understand why those would be sought-after, but I can't imagine they're very stable to drive! The cockpit was pretty cramped, too. It has two seats but I'd barely fit in it on my own, I think.

I'm thinking maybe it was a Dodge Dart wagon now. That's about the same size and style as what I saw, and has two headlights like I remember. I think it was more like the 1966 version, but Wikipedia didn't have a picture of one of those as a wagon.

I don't know what kind of car it is, but there is a yellow roadster in my neighborhood. It looks like a soap box derby car. I used to see an orange Honda Element with black question marks all over it. Always reminded me of The Riddler. I've also seen a classic El Camino.

Since the car buffs are congregating here, maybe you can help me. This thread made me curious about my mother's station wagon. It was a Buick, purchased new in 1964. What made it unusual was that it was smaller than the standard station wagon. I've gone looking for images of Buick station wagons from that period, but all of the pictures I'm seeing (Skylarks & SportWagons), are either extended or have these weird extra windows on and near the roof. My mother's car very definitely did not have those. Anybody interested in searching for a different kind?

Also, I have looked at pictures and confirmed that my parents owned a car that looked like a circa 1966 Dodge Dart. It was cream colored, and the only car my parents ever owned that did not have rear seat belts. My father towed our trailer on logging roads in it. Here's the problem: my father much preferred Plymouth to Dodge, and I remember that car as being a Plymouth. I can't see any Plymouth models that look like the Dart from that period. (i.e., like this if the link works). Does anybody know what Dad's car might have been, if it wasn't a Dart?

On my way home yesterday I saw a sports car I was completely unable to identify. It had a sort of rounded, yet curvy styling reminiscent of some 1960s sports cars like the Jaguar E-Type. I'm sure I would have recognized an actual E-Type, though, so I don't think that's what it was. It had an oval shaped grille like the Jag, but a bit smaller I think. And if I'm remembering correctly it had pop-up headlights unlike the Jag. And no chrome that I can remember. I don't know if the owner removed the bumpers and other trim to give it a more race car like look, or if perhaps I'm way off on the era and this was actually a car from the 1990s, when cars also featured very round styling, but no chrome. And it was an enclosed coupe, not a convertible.